The “Super Mario Bros.” movie was a bit of a frustrating experience.
Not as frustrating as some of those secret “Super Mario Sunshine” levels, but still frustrating nonetheless.
In the animated film, the titular brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) set off on a new adventure, which is opening a plumbing business. Their first job doesn’t go well, but determined after a setback, the brothers decide to take another job, fixing a major pipe leak underneath Brooklyn.
In the process, they enter one pipe that shoots them to a whole other world. There, Mario finds himself in the Mushroom Kingdom and meets its ruler, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), who is determined to stop the invasion of the evil Bowser (Jack Black). Mario decides to help, as Luigi has fallen into Bowser’s clutches.
The “Mario” games have often featured rather simple stories. It’s largely the same case with the movie, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Adventure films often include characters going on a journey from point A to point B, with some struggles and hijinx along the way.
The problem isn’t really that the tale in “Mario Bros.” is simplistic, though, it’s that it’s mostly passionless. The film’s script seemed to be built entirely around making sure it could insert references and Easter Eggs for fans, rather than letting things just develop more naturally.
Even though there are fun little set-pieces included, such as an exciting chase inspired by the game “Mario Kart,” it ends up not meaning all that much in the grand scheme of things because there’s no substance. The aforementioned moment, for example, was just added in as a nod to the video game.
Even the world building felt a bit lifeless. For example, items like the super mushrooms and such were referred to simply as “power-ups,” taking away from the mysticism of a new world and making the movie lack a sense of wonder and discovery.
It was also disappointing that the film sidelines Luigi, who spends most of the picture as Bowser’s prisoner. It’s understandable that the creators wanted to change things by not having Peach be a damsel in distress, but that didn’t mean they just needed another prisoner in her stead, since there’s still the threat of Bowser’s invasion.
The fact is, the only bit of real substance the movie has comes from the Mario family, especially the brotherhood between Mario and Luigi. Being able to see more of them interact on an adventure that involved Peach as well could have benefited the film.
When it comes to the voice acting for the protagonists, it was… fine? Pratt and Day basically used their normal voices, but injected some energy in their characters. Pratt’s Mario is ambitious while Day’s Luigi is a worrier but will help when needed out of his love of family. It works alright.
However, the rest of the voice acting was hit or miss. Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong was entertaining, as was Black in the role of Bowser. Joy seems miscast as Peach, though, and Keegan-Michael Key gets to be rather grating as the princess’ assistant Toad.
In the end, there’s plenty going on in “Super Mario Bros.” to keep the kids entertained and it comes in at about an hour and a half, meaning it’s not a huge time commitment for parents. In that sense, the movie does its job, and throws plenty of bones for fans of the game to gnaw on for 90 minutes.
However, the film falls far short when stacked up next to most animated adventures. 2.5 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 
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